I have a very high calcium score. What next?

Donna I am 54 CAC 900 asymptomatic . I had stress test with exco on treadmill. How often did you get checked for blockage and what tests . I heard nuclear stress is more accurate ? I know the cath is too invasive for an asymptomatic person . Also any words of wisdom because every time I feel a twinge I think now I am having a heart attack when before I knew I was fine . I am on several medications and good weight

I’ll look up the book where it comes from but it was written by a doc and he was absolute in his statement that what you eat has nothing to do with cholesterol. Sorry if I don’t have that at my breakfast table but I promise to send.

Just a word on cholesterol. I was tested for and found to have lipoprotein a , which apparently only 15 to 20% of the population possess. This is almost like a super cholesterol which attaches itself to your arteries and cannot be treated with statins. It is not tested for as standard because there is nothing specific to be done to treat it. However, my preventative cardiologist believes, and I agree, that this information allows you to make better informed decisions about my own health care. I only attended him because there was a family history of early cardiac issues. So he found that I had a higher than expected calcium score for my age of 66.....he doubled my statin meds from 10 to 20 and I have improved my diet, ensured better sleep and take more exercise. My HDL cholesterol has dropped to 1.3 and that will hopefully help to counter the sinister effects of the lipoprotein a. Lipoprotein a runs in families and is characterised by early cardiac events. I was advised to inform my children and siblings so they can also get tested. So this might be a test worth getting for someone who has concerns about cardiac health. I live in Ireland and had to go to a specialist clinic to get the test done.

degarden, what are your actual cholesterol numbers (lipids) - HDL, LDL, triglycerides? (sorry if I missed them). The increase you note from 2007 until now would be consider pretty normal - especially if you started taking statins.

writer418, if you note "credible source" it is usually reasonable for you to cite that source, or even provide a link. Your explanation appears to be rather rudimentary. It seems reasonable that there is a lot more behind the science of understanding cholesterols.

There are doctors out there who say that what you eat has nothing to do with cholesterol. I’ve read the initial tests for cholesterol were done on rabbits and have nothing to do with humans. This is from a credible source (a heart doctor) but look it up yourself.

I have read the same reports but my situation perhaps requires that I restrict all sources of cholesterol. My calcium score is over 2200 so I'm listening to my doc as she is conservative in my care and probably for a very good reason.

The no egg thing recently has been shown not to be true, it's ok to eat eggs a few times a week even with the yolk.

True! My cardio has told me no eggs. I trust her so I follow her advice. I avoid saturated fats, don't eat trans fats which means excluding all items from the bakery. Pretty much live on meatless meals, beans and lentils, fish and chicken. And these dietary changes have helped me keep my weight in check.

Keep in mind consuming cholesterol only raises your blood cholesterol levels slightly, it's more complicated having to do with the mix of fats/carbohydrates in your diet, check the saturated/trans fat levels of what you eat, I still eat eggs occasionally which are loaded with cholesterol.

I'm age 79. My calcium score was about 535 in 2007 and is 2235 now. I had two stents in 2022. Apparently there is a third area that may eventually need a stent. The rest of the plaque is spread through out my body. Having a stent before you have a near blockage is probably not something a cardio would encourage or do. Stents tend to accumulate plaque and I now take Plavix to discourage the blood from clotting around those stents. From what I understand, with medication and diet to control cholesterol, the stent will be good for hopefully, 10 years. If the stents get clogged, the next step would be bypass surgery which is very invasive.

I suggest you try to lose any excess weight. When I was first diagnosed with heart disease, I too had to lose 40 lbs. I lost the weight by a strict low cholesterol, low sugar diet. I wish you good health.

Donna